The scale isn’t your only measure of success

Lisa met her goal of losing 100 pounds by her 40th birthday, but the struggle continues. Click through to read about losing the first 100 pounds or click on the links below to read about the new challenges.More >>

Lisa met her goal of losing 100 pounds by her 40th birthday, but the struggle continues. Click through to read about losing the first 100 pounds or click on the links below to read about the new challenges.More >>

I tried writing in this space about a month ago and got three paragraphs into it before I gave up. I just feel like I'm saying the same things over and over and not making any real changes that stick. But all I can do is try again and keep trying until I get out of this rut.More >>

These days, you probably want to file your taxes as early as possible to prevent identity thieves from filing a false return in your name — but that requires you to have the necessary forms in hand, including W-2 forms.

These days, you probably want to file your taxes as early as possible to prevent identity thieves from filing a false return in your name — but that requires you to have the necessary forms in hand, including W-2 forms.

It's definitely been a bit up-and-down the past few weeks and I'm not quite back to the lowest weight I'd registered last month, but I'm satisfied that I'm moving in the right direction.

A bit more unnervingly, it's far from a done deal that I'll actually hit my goal of losing 100 pounds by September 9th, but I'm trying not to focus on that too much and concentrating instead on just working my program as well as I can.

I haven't written for the past couple of weeks because I was on vacation in San Francisco - a trip I'd planned so that I could participate in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer there.

Even though I wasn't writing, I was thinking a lot about my weight loss journey over the past 18 months and how my life has changed since I started. While the decreasing numbers on the scale certainly make me happy, here are some of the other changes that excited me on my trip:

Airplane comfort

One of the lowest points for me at my highest weight was needing to ask for a seat belt extender on a flight. That's no longer a concern. I have plenty of slack in my seat belt, I don't worry anymore about encroaching on my seatmate's space, and I can even cross my legs comfortably while I travel!

Shopping with my friends

For a long time, I've really only been able to shop for shoes and accessories with my friends. Though I'd happily give them opinions while they shopped, I was much too embarrassed to bring them along with me to the plus size departments to do the same for me.

Now I can shop in most of the same places they do.

My friend Kadi (who's very small and petite) and I spent a day shopping together and it was such a treat to be able to look in all the same departments and try clothes on together. I even found myself buying a few tops in the petite department when she was looking because they fell better on me than their regular sized counterparts.

As an aside, it was quite an eye opener to see how much trouble Kadi had finding clothes in her very small size. I always felt like it was just hard for us bigger girls, but, apparently it's never easy to find that elusive perfect dress or outfit. Another reminder that maybe we shouldn't internalize some of our struggles so much and turn them into personal failures.

Walking the Walk

I've been doing the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer since 2002. It's a 2-day, marathon-and-a-half walk and I've now participated 16 times in various cities around the country. I've walked at my highest weight and my lowest weight and every weight in between.

Two years ago, at my highest weight, I had horrible back pains while walking. I remember one training walk in particular where I had to send my team ahead without me because I could barely put one foot in front of the other without sharp pains in my back. It was a very scary and discouraging moment for me and one of those times when I felt like I'd hit rock bottom and knew I had to do something about my weight.

There was a huge difference this year walking at my lowest weight since 2002!

Kadi and I made great time walking 26 miles on Saturday and finished more quickly than I'd ever finished before. And that's with all those San Francisco hills! On Sunday, we started very late and powered through, catching up to the bulk of walkers before realizing we had plenty of time to slow down, relax, and just enjoy the walk.

It was amazing to actually feel the results of all my hard work and to see how my body works better without the extra weight. Sometimes I feel like I get too caught up in what the scale is saying when all I have to do to see my success is pay attention to how much easier some things have gotten.

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